Needle Felted dolls, toys and plushies

Tag: felt doll

@justanotherelsen continues to send me photos of Yellow Pearl in her forever home, including this amazing handstitched screen-accurate outfit.

This is just so rewarding to see. Every time I see an awesome piece of art that has a hundred times more notes than I’ll ever get, I think of this. I’m so lucky that I get to see my work being played with and loved.

This was my first time making doll clothes, and it was a big hassle! The first attempt to make her skirt went so badly that it actually caught on fire. Fabricland was having a sale on trim and ribbons, and I went for the glitter one because a Diamond’s Pearl should be as flashy as possible.

Since I started working with this stuff two weeks ago I have been picking glitter out of my clothes, food and hair.

As long as I’m playing around with different styles, I figured I’d try felting some muscles instead of my usual noodle arms. And who better for that than a big, buff cheeto puff?

I realised something while working on this one. Steven Universe does a lot of work to associate strength with femininity. The small, physically weaker gems on the show (the real definition of ‘strength’ is another topic the show goes into great detail on, but that’s for a different discussion) tend to have short hair and flat chests. The quartz soldiers, on the other hand, are big and imposing, but they’re also the ones that have hourglass figures, long hair and thick eyelashes, all traditional signifiers of femininity. Rose and Jasper, the two strongest gems we’ve seen, even have pink hair! It’s neat.

I also noticed that she wears Dragonball Z boots, but that’s not as interesting.

I was worried I wouldn’t finish this one in time for May 12. It’s the biggest feltie I’ve ever made, and the first time I’ve made fully posable hands. They were a lot of work, but I’m really pleased with the results! She can even pick up and hold some of the smaller ones.

Sans is having a bad time, and she could literally squish Sardonyx right now, it would not be hard!

I’ve been working on this for weeks, and I wasn’t sure I would actually be able to pull it off. If I ever tried making one of these again, I’d make the box a little bigger. It’s a very tight fit, and the velcro just barely keeps it all together.

I decided early on that I didn’t want his original body to be something separate that you take off and put aside, so came up with this battery backpack design. It’s inspired by a creepy duracell commercial from my childhood. My only regret is that it covers up his lovingly handcrafted butt.

His neck is extra long and his body is felted a little more loosely than most of my dolls to facilitate the transformation. I didn’t post any in-progress shots of this one because I didn’t want to ruin the reveal!